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Japanese series of children's books by Rieko Nakagawa and Yuriko Yamawaki
Guri and Gura
(
ぐりとぐら
,
Guri to Gura
)
is a Japanese series of
children's books
by writer
Rieko Nakagawa
and
illustrator
Yuriko Yamawaki. The
protagonists
are two
anthropomorphic
field mice
, and the series began in 1963 with the first volume
Guri and Gura
.
The series is published by
Fukuinkan Shoten
in Japan.
Overview
[
edit
]
The stories tell of the encounters of twin anthropomorphic
field mice
, Guri and Gura.
Yamawaki accompanies Nakagawa's loosely structured narratives with simple, unsophisticated illustrations. The stories aim at entertaining rather that instructing and thus do not feature moral dilemmas to be overcome.
Publication and reception
[
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]
The first volume of the series, titled
Guri and Gura
, appeared in the children's magazine
Kodomo no Tomo
in 1963.
The series' writer
Rieko Nakagawa
[a]
worked in childcare at the time.
As of 2014, the first volume had sold over four million copies,
and the series had sold a combined 24.9 million copies worldwide.
The first English of
Guri and Gura
appeared in Britain in 1967; in this translation the
castella
cake the mice make in the original Japanese becomes a
sponge cake
more familiar to a British audience.
An translation appeared in 1991 under the subtitle
The Giant Egg
, by an uncredited translator. Later translations have been by Peter Howlett and Richard McNamara.
Dozens of other translations have appeared, including
Korean
,
French
,
Portuguese
,
Thai
, and
Esperanto
.
List of translated volumes
[
edit
]
- Guri and Gura: The Giant Egg
- Guri and Gura
- Guri and Gura's Surprise Visitor
- Guri and Gura's Seaside Adventure
- Guri and Gura's Picnic Adventure
- Guri and Gura's Magical Friend
- Guri and Gura's Playtime Book of Seasons
- Guri and Gura's Special Gift
- Guri and Gura's Spring Cleaning
- Guri and Gura's Songs of the Seasons
Notes
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]
References
[
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]
Works cited
[
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]
- Books from Japan staff.
"Guri and Gura"
.
Books from Japan
. Retrieved
December 2,
2014
.
- Kawai, Mamie (May 16, 2015).
"Guri to Gura no sekai gururi: Joshi-gumi dokusha to bijutsukan e"
ぐりとぐらの世界ぐるり 女子組?者と美術館へ
.
Asahi Shimbun
. Archived from
the original
on May 5, 2015
. Retrieved
April 14,
2016
.
- Kendall, Phillip (October 23, 2013).
"Guri and Gura, the classic children's book that's a little bit different in every country"
.
Rocket News 24
. Archived from
the original
on October 23, 2013
. Retrieved
March 3,
2016
.
- Publishers Weekly staff.
"Guri and Gura"
.
Publishers Weekly
. Retrieved
December 2,
2014
.
- Treyvaud, Matt (August 1, 2015).
"How 'Guri and Gura' became the most famous mice in Japan"
.
The Japan Times
. Archived from
the original
on August 7, 2015
. Retrieved
March 3,
2016
.